Dried honey-milk product



United States Patent C 3,357,839 DRIED HONEY-MILK PRODUCT David Torr,Ripley Lane, Oyster Bay, NY. 11771 No Drawing. Continuation ofapplication Ser. No. 436,948, Mar. 3, 1965. This application Mar. 3,1966, Ser. No. 531,361

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A dry, non-caking dried honey-milk productwherein the weight ratio of the honey and milk is about -75 parts honeysolids to about 90-25 parts milk solids and having a moisture content ofapproximately 2%.

This application is a continuation of Serial No. 436,948, filed March 3,1965, now issued as Patent No. 3,244,528.

This invention relates to food products and more particularly to thepreparation of a dry, powdered, unadulterated honey-milk composition ofnon-hygroscopic character and which is capable of being used or storedwhile exposed to relatively high moisture-containing atmospheres withoutreversion of the honey constituent to the objectionably sticky form andwithout. agglomeration or caking of the product.

The products produced in accordance with the present invention aresatisfactorily utilized with hot or cold cereals either coated with theproduct or where the dried honey-milk powder is furnished in a separatepackage, the addition of water being all that is required; with candies,e.g., honey-milk bars, etc.; cookies and cooky mixes; cake mixes;chocolate quick drinks; coffee and tea mixes for hotel and motel rooms;cocoa mixes; ice cream; instant puddings and pie fillings; instantdesserts; carbonated and non-carbonated drinks; fruit flavored drinks,e.g., cherry and strawberry milkshakes; health and dietetic foods;ingredient for peanut butter for sweetener and smooth spreading and;bakery goods, e.g., breads, rolls, etc. The products will be desirablyutilized in national school lunch programs; by the armed services; byUnited Nations organizations and the World Health Organization, etc.

Fresh milk and natural honey are readily miscible in all proportions toform compositions that are both tasty and healthful. Such mixtures ofmilk and honey are high in energy value and it is believed that thenormal honey acids contribute favorably to the digestibility of milkproteins. Further, the inclusion of honey in the diet has a definitebeneficial effect upon the retention of calcium by infants. Also, honeyhas been found to be of unusual value when used as the carbohydratecomponent of infant diets. Honey has been found to be among the best ofthe carbohydrates with respect to the speed with which sugars areassimilated, and it appears to be the best carbohydrate with respect tothe length of time a moderately high level of blood sugars ismaintained.

Heretofore, attempts have been made to solidify honeymilk mixtures, vizBarwell, US. Patent No. 1,409,435, or honey, viz Straub, US. Patent No.2,693,420, but in either of the methods disclosed therein the additionof a desiccant has been required. Straub, e.g., employs wheat flour,corn starch, rice starch, potato starch, tapioca starch, etc., as hismoisture-absorbing medium. The justification offered for the use of thisadulterant in the powdered honey product was that since the product wasintended for baking, the starch normally useful in baking, would not beuseless or undesirable when the product is employed for baking or likepurposes.

The dried honey-milk product, however, produced in accordance with mydiscovery disclosed herein, while useful in the preparation of bakeryand confectionary products, is, as previously herein-stated, furtheradvantageous- 1y useful to sweeten and flavor coffee or tea in thebrewed or instant form, desserts, cereals, peanut butter, ice cream andother food and drink preparations where honey and milk are essentiallydesirable in their pure, unadulterated state.

A further object of the present honey-milk product resides in theprovision of a powdered, substantially white product which, althoughappearing like flour or powdered starch, is free of such adulterants andwhich, notwithstanding the absence thereof, will remain powdered anduncaked in unexpected defiance of the normal deliquescent property ofhoney.

Another object of the instant invention is to provide aprotein-nutritious food product which can be marketed innon-hermetically sealed containers similarly to the manner in whichgranulated sugar is packaged and which can be used in the household as atasteful and conveniently applicable sweetener preferably in lieu of orin addition to sugar.

Other objects and advantages of my hereind-isclosed invention will beset forth in part hereinafter and in part will be obvious herefrom, ormay be learned by practice of the invention, the same being realized andattained by means of procedures defined and pointed out in the appendedclaims.

In the process disclosed by Webb et al., US. Patent No. 2,621,128, forpreparing a dried honey-milk product, the exclusion of water throughoutthe process is emphasized as the desideratum. Accordingly, commercialhoney with a moisture content of less than about 18% is slowly drizzledonto dried skim milk, dried whole milk, dried buttermilk or dried whey.The combined mixture is allowed to stand for l624 hours at 50 F. to F.to cause the Water in the honey to be sequestered by combining with thelactose and dextrose present to form crystalline sugar hydrates. Thisproduct is then dried to a moisture content not substantially in excessof 10 percent and the dried mixture is then pulverized.

It is well known that the product prepared in accordance with the Webbet al. teaching contains the water originally in the honey and dry milkthough some of it hydrates the lactose and is more or less atequilibrium with 60% relative humidity at this point. The product in itsdriest form can be milled to a powder in air of controlled humidity. Dryair is required because the dried product is quite hygroscopic and ifpermitted to stand in moist air will revert to its original moisturecontent or more, depending upon the RH of the air. Thus, unlesshermetically packaged in the presence of a desiccant or kept in acontrolled low humidity atmosphere, the product cakes up, turns colorand becomes impracticable to handle.

Contrary to previous procedural efforts to obtain shelfstable,non-caking, dry honey-milk products, the present invention involves theaddition of water rather than the exclusion thereof prior to the finaldehydration step. Where, e.g., powdered milk products are utilized, suchproducts are reconstituted with water prior to being combined with thehoney, or water is added after the powdered milk and honey are combined.Or, where fresh whole 1 milk products, which already contain water areused,

neither starch nor other desiccants are required to be added. It hasbeen discovered, therefore, that the addition of water in quantitiesbeyond that normally present in commercial honey will advantageouslyadvance the extent of dehydration achievable for a honey-milk mixture,and further advantageously minimize any hygroscopic propertiesotherwiseexhibited by such mixtures after drying. Similarly, I havediscovered that the water already present in whole milk products, whencombined with the moisture already present in honey, .will permit dryingof such honeymilk mixtures to degrees heretofore unattainable and todegrees of chemical stability also heretofore unattainable.

Whether dried or fresh whole milk, skim milk, buttermilk, whey, ormixtures of the foregoing were mixed with honey, the presence of oraddition of water beyond that already present in the honey, appeared tocontribute to the stability of the finally obtainable dried composition.

The moisture content of commercially available honeys ranges betweenapproximately 13 and 26 percent. Any commercial honey of good grade canbe used in practicing my process.

The following examples are given as illustrative embodiments of mannersin which my invention may be practiced. It will be understood thatvarious conventional drying techniques may be employed, such as spray,tunnel, freeze or oven drying, the criticality of the invention beingthe presence of moisture in excess of that contained in honeys of eventhe highest natural moisture content.

Example I A honey-milk solution at room temperature, having a 30% solidsconcentration was repeated, said solution containing 197 grams of honey(80%), 52.5 grams of powdered whole milk and 450.5 grams of water. Thesolution after being freeze-dried yielded a flutfy, white, shelf-stable,non-caking, 75 :25 honey-milk food product weighing 200 grams. Themoisture content was determined to be less than 1%.

Example II A honey-milk solution at room temperature having a 30% solidsconcentration was prepared, said solution containing 28.1 grams of honeyand 67.5 grams of whole milk powder. The solution after beingfreeze-dried yielded a fluffy product as appeared in Example I andweighing 100 grams. The product contained 25% honey and 75% whole milksolids. Moisture content: less than 1%.

Example III A honey-milk solution at room temperature having a 30%solids concentration was prepared as in the foregoing examples, saidsolution containing 562 grams of honey and 45 grams of whole milkpowder. The solution was freeze-dried to yield a desirable food productof the aforedescribed character and weighing 100 grams. The productcontained a honey-milk ratio of 50:50.

The above procedures were repeated using a spray dryer and the sameresults were obtained.

Example IV A honey-milk solution at room temperature, comprised of 75grams of honey (approximately 18% moisture content), 25 grams ofpowdered whole milk and grams of water was prepared. The solution wasfreeze-dried and a white, fiuffy, shelf-stable product was obtained.

Example V A mixture at room temperature, containing 100 grams of honey(approximately 18% moisture content) and 100 grams of fresh wholehalf-milk and half-cream was prepared. The solution was spray-dried andyielded the desirable non-caking, shelf-stable product as obtained inthe foregoing procedures.

In carrying out the above process using the freezedrying technique, theconditions were as follows: The prepared honey-milk solution was allowedto freeze for 2 hours at -45 C.; the drying time, 12-18 hours; thepressure, 70-100 microns of mercury; shelf temperature, 125 F.; ambienttemperature, 8590 F.; condensate plate temperature, -40 F.; and producttemperature, 125 F. maximum.

Where spray drying was utilized, the conditions were as follows: Theinlet temperature, 120135 C.; outlet temperature, 65-85 C.; atomizerpressure, 5 kg. percent cmF; drying rate of solution, 25-35 ml. perminute; and product temperature 55 -75' C.

"foam and instantizer drying methods may suitably be utilized. Theinitial honey-milk-water mixture prior to drying may be maintained atany reasonable temperature ranging between 321l0 F. The period of timebetween the mixing and drying step is of no consequence and drying maybe accomplished promptly after the mixture is prepared.

The obtention of the valuable products in the manner disclosed herein,is due to the inclusion of water with the honey and milk prior to thedrying procedure. By the inclusion of water I mean the presence of waterin addition to the moisturecontent of the honey in its natural form.Contrary to the teachings of the prior art, therefore, where themoisture present in the honey-milk mixture is reduced to the minimumprior to the drying step, I have found that the inclusion of suchadditional water is responsible for the beneficial result achievable inthe practice of my invention. Although the preparation of a usablenon-caking dried honey-milk product may be prepared by includingsomewhat less than ten percent of water by weight (approximately 5% asshown in Example IV) prior to drying the mixture using a suitable dryingprocedure, it is believed that at least approximately ten percent watershould be present, said water being, as stated, additional to theinherent moisture content of the honey. Thus, where whole fresh milk isused, the Water requirement is readily satisfied and has performed, infact, as well as where I have begun with dried whole milk products andhave, with the addition of water, reconstituted such products. A watercontent of over ninety percent prior to drying has produced satisfactoryresults. It will be appreciated that where the temperature of thehoney-milk-water mixture .is raised above room temperature whereby theviscosity of the mixture is reduced, spray-drying of said mixture isfurther facilitated, especially where the honey to milk ratio is high.

As expressed hereinabove, the unexpected results achieved in the mannerdisclosed herein, appears to be predicated upon the inhibition of thetransformation of the amorphous milk sugar contained in milk productsinto crystalline lactose hydrate, such transformation normally occurringupon contact of the amorphous milk sugar with honey. Accordingly, itappears that the water added to the dried milk or the water present inthe whole fresh milk products precludes such crystallization prior tothe drying procedure, and that such preclusion advantageously allows thedrying procedure to proceed to a greater and beneficial conclusion.

As aforementioned, other dried honey-milk products are produced in ananalogous manner by using dried or fresh whole milk, buttermilk, skinmilk, whey, cream and milk, etc. Although iodizing caking inhibitors ordesiccant additives are not required in view of the substantiallynonhygroscopic nature of the dry products herein obtained, antioxidantsor fat stabilizers may be suitably added in small quantities (0.011.00%by weight) to prevent rancidity occurring in the fats that may bepresent in the product. Examples of such antioxidants are: butylatedhydroxyanisole, butylated hydroxytoluene, certain of the tocopherols andcombinations of the foregoing with citric acid and n-propyl gallate.Also, for better utilization of the calcium in the milk, vitamin D maybe added.

Further, it will be appreciated that the period of time for which thehoney-milk solution stands before drying is commenced, appearsinconsequential insofar as concerns the satisfactory fulfillment of theinvention. That is, drying of the solution may be accomplishedimmediately following the preparation thereof or man hours later withoutdetriment to the process.

The ratio of honey solids to milk solids in my products may be variedWithin wide limits. Satisfactory products are obtained with a honeysolids-milk solids ratio within the range of approximately 10:90 to :25.

The invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specificsteps, methods and compositions described but departures may be madetherefrom within the scope of the accompanying claims without departingfrom the principles of the invention and without sacrificing its chiefadvantages.

What is claimed is:

1. A dry, non-caking composition, comprised of dried honey, a dried milkproduct, and moisture, wherein the weight ratio of the honey and milk isabout 10-75 parts honey solids to about 9025 parts milk solids, saidmoisture being approximately 2%.

2. A product as defined in claim 1 consisting entirely of honey andmilk.

3. A product as defined in claim 1 wherein said milk product is selectedfrom the group consisting of dried 6 fresh milk and cream, dried skimmilk, dried buttermilk, dried whey and mixtures of the foregoing.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,244,528 5/1966 Torr 9956FOREIGN PATENTS 705,059 3/1954 Great Britain.

OTHER REFERENCES Hunziker, O. F., Condensed Milk and Milk Powders,"1949, published by author, La Grange, 111., pp. 484, 485.

A. LOUIS MONACELL, Primaly Examiner. MAURICE W. GREENSTEIN, Examiner.

1. A DRY, NON-CAKING COMPOSITION, COMPRISED OF DRIED HONEY, A DRIED MILKPRODUCT, AND MOISTURE, WHEREIN THE WEIGHT RATIO OF THE HONEY AND MILK ISABOUT 10-75 PARTS HONEY SOLIDS TO ABOUT 90-25 PARTS MILK SOLIDS, SAIDMOISTURE BEING APPROXIMATELY 2%.